Albany judge Herrick to become new public defender

By Robert Gavin

Updated 7:27 am, Friday, August 26, 2016

The next public defender of Albany County will be coming off the bench — literally.

Albany County Judge Stephen Herrick, 69, a judge since 1995 and at the county level since 2002, is expected to be named public defender as early as Monday, according to people with knowledge of the move.

The appointment of a sitting judge as public defender may surprise some people, but Herrick will reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 later this year which means he would be off the bench either way. And Herrick is an unquestionable "get" for the county, given the judge's familiarity with the criminal justice system in Albany.

As public defender, Herrick would want to avoid any case that had been before him as judge to avoid conflicts. People with knowledge of the move expect Herrick to retire from the bench early so he could begin his new role sooner rather than later. Herrick's appointment, should it go through, is subject to confirmation by the County Legislature.

The last public defender was longtime Albany attorney James Long, who was appointed to the position in February. He soon left to run for a City Court judgeship.

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Long replaced James Milstein, who held the position since 2011, when Milstein replaced then-public defender Peter Torncello. In January, County Executive Dan McCoy appointed Milstein to run a 14-county Regional Immigration Assistance Center based in Albany. Milstein wore two hats for a period of time.

In June, McCoy appointed veteran attorney Terence L. Kindlon to serve as a senior counsel for the public defender's office to train attorneys and assist office defenders as a second chair in major trials. Kindlon, who has been working as the acting public defender, will go back to the role for which he was hired after Herrick takes the new post.

Kindlon praised Herrick, who among other duties has presided over Albany County Drug Court, which provides alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders.

"I think he'll be spectacular," Kindlon said. "Steve has distinguished himself in the last 15, 20 years as the heart and soul of Drug Court and he has shown incredibly effective compassion. I think he has probably saved countless lives because of the good work that he's done running Drug Court. I've always thought that he never got the credit for it. I can't think of anybody better than Steve."

Herrick, an Albany Law School graduate admitted to the bar in 1973, was counsel to the Albany school board in 1976 when it was still under the control of legendary Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd. Herrick, a Democrat, has family roots in local politics that date back more than a century.

After serving as a City Court judge for seven years, Herrick was elected to County Court in 2001. At his swearing-in, he said: "Albany County Court is the post I've sought since 1971 when I was a wide-eyed and actually long-haired law clerk."

When asked by Law Beat about the move now to public defender, Herrick declined to make a comment. McCoy would not confirm or deny he was ready to appoint Herrick.

The judge has presided over some high-profile cases, including the murder trial in 2009 of Jermayne Timmons, the teenager who fired the shot that killed Kathina Thomas, 10, in 2008 in West Hill, the Orlando, Fla.-linked steroids case brought by Soares' office in 2007, and the case of Tiffany VanAlstyne, the 20-year-old Knox woman who strangled her 5-year-old cousin Kenneth White, dumped him in the snow to die and concocted a story that she was the victim of a kidnapping by intruders who took the child. Herrick has also presided over the case of three University at Albany female students charged with fabricating a story they were victims of an alleged racial attack on a CDTA bus on Jan. 30. One of the students admitted her role in making up the story and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a noncriminal violation. The two other students have pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault and falsely reporting an incident and harassment, a violation.